Rufus Zuphall is one of the significant German rock bands of the early seventies. Formed in Aachen in 1969 the band melted together blues elements, Anglo-Saxon folk, classical influences and driving guitar rock with progressive song structure into an autonomous instrumental dominated, unmistakable style.

Their breakthrough came in 1970 at the Jazz Festival in Bilzen (Belgium). Actually planned as a sideshow, Rufus Zuphall then played as the only amateur band next to such stars as Black Sabbath, Cat Stevens or May Blitz and were celebrated by the press as “surprise of the festival“. Previously Rufus Zuphall had even appeared with Living Blues and Cuby & The Blizzards, in the same year this was followed by gigs with Curtis Jones, Group 1850 and Golden Earring. At the beginning of December 1970, Rufus Zuphall in only three days produced live their first LP Weiß der Teufel which is generally regarded as a masterpiece of progressive rock.

In 1972 the band finally broke up in their old formation but kept in close touch. So Helmut continued writing the lyrics for Günters new projects, e.g. Slo-Blo. In 1999, thirty years after the forming of the band, Ulli Pesch, promoter of the Burg-Wilhelmstein concerts in Aachen/Würselen, succeeded in persuading the original members of the band to play once again. On June 19th they made a fantastic, cheered, and critically acclaimed concert: Günter Krause (guitar), Klaus Gülden (flute), Helmut Lieblang (bass), and Udo Dahmen (drums), supported by the ingenious youngster Gero Körner playing keyboards. The “German Rock Club-Paper“ went into raptures:

»I have never experienced such an enormous energy during a concert though I lived to see bands like PINK FLOYD in front of 60,000 people. It’s hard to describe such an event – but you’ll never forget ... For me this concert was one of the best I have ever seen.« (Alexander Zuk, German Rock 9/1999)

So this terrific success made it easy for the ‘old guys‘ to give it one more try. Today Rufus Zuphall consist of the original members Günter Krause, Klaus Gülden and Helmut Lieblang together with the youngbloods Gero Körner and Roland Hegel who is more than a substitute for the exceptional drummer Udo Dahmen (who has postponed his old job for temporal reasons).

Like before Rufus Zuphall use different musical elements and though now the new compositions can be characterized rather as “songs“ than “pieces“, one essential component has been preserved – the love of the ‘long musical form‘ as to be heard on their CDs “Colder than hell“ (2000) and “Outside the gates of Eden” (2007). (rufus-zuphall.de)